2: The Ancient River Valley Civilizations were some of the first cities that were organized in Asia and Africa. They were all along rivers like the Nile, the Tigris, the Indus, the Yellow and the Euphrates river. This is because the water from the rivers always gave them a supply of fresh water for farming and for drinking. Between 3000 and 2000 BC, these civilizations or cities formed on their own and separate from each other. They shared characteristics, or things about them, that made them different from the neolithic communities (basically communities from the stone age) that came before them. These cities were the start of the cities that we now have today. | Ancient River Valley Civilizations

3: If Hammurabi had not come up with the Hammurabi's code then there would probably be more crime committed. The code helped people see justice. If you did something wrong to someone else then the same thing would happen to you. For an example if you killed someone then you too would be killed. Hammurabi's code made people follow the rules. If it had never been written then someone else probably would have written the punishments for crimes, but it might not have been as affective as Hammurabi's code was. | "What If"

4: Ancient Rome/Greece Some of the things that we have in the United States today are came for classical Greece and Rome. First of all, the idea of Democracy, which is like the government we have here in America today, came from Greece and Rome. Democracy is a form of government where the leaders are chosen by the people. Without democracy we might have a monarchy which means we would have a king and a queen. We also modeled our constitution, or our basic laws and ideas, after some of their ideas, built public buildings they way they built them, use some of their styles of art work and many other ideas, too.

5: "What If" | If Athens had not embraced democracy then the United States would have had a different way in running the country. Who knows we might have a monarchy government which means we would have a king and a queen. The bad thing about this is we as the people in the country couldn't pick who we wanted for our leader. We would have to trust that the king and the queen knew what she or he was doing.

6: Post Classical Asia/Africa The Post Classical time period was between the 5th and 15th centuries. Islamic people spread their beliefs and ideas into Asia and Africa, counties expanded, or grew bigger, the world got a little more connected with each other, and trade, like trading goods such as food or animals, became easier.

7: "What If" | If the Mongols had not opened the silk road then the people who would have traveled a different way, and that way would have probably been longer and more dangerous. Many more people could of died. so even though there would have been another way to travel there would have been more deaths on the new trail.

8: Post-Classical Europe Post-Classical Europe went through pretty much the same things as post-classical Asia and Africa. Europe expanded and grew bigger, and trade became easier. One thing that happened during this time that was not a positive thing though was the Black Plague. The Black Plague was a disease that wiped out a great deal of the people in Europe. It was fatal and deadly.

9: If the Black Plague had never affected the Europeans then there probably would have been another plague. Even if the other plague hadn't been as dangerous as the Black Plague was a big part in that era. There would still be illnesses and deaths that would have come other diseases. If the Black Plague never happened then we wouldn't have the artwork and stories we have today. | "What If"

10: The Renaissance/Reformation The Renaissance was a time when the old Roman and Greek cities were changing and getting formed with new ideas and beliefs. It was around 1300-1600. It began in Florence, Italy. The people saw this as a time when a "new world" was being created and everything was getting renewed. The Reformation was a time when the church was changing because people believe it was getting corrupted. Corrupted means that it was changing in bad ways. It was a time when things were getting restored, or getting put back to the way that they should be.

11: If Gutenburg hadn't invented the printing press we wouldn't have had the ideas spread around the would that early. But we probably would have had some form of technology that would help with the spread of ideas, even if it would have taken awhile longer to discover. So even though Gutenburg's printing press helped spread alot of ideas around the world, we would have figured out a way to spread our ideas. | "What If"

12: The Enlightenment The enlightenment was a time when many people came to new realizations or came up with new ideas about how things should be. It happened during the 1700's. New technology, or inventions came about and almost of Europe was changed in many ways. Even religion, or beliefs in God was changed. It was a time when everything was being change, mostly for the better.

13: "What If" | If the colonist had not embraced the Enlightenment ideas then our Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States would have been written differently. There may have been different rights that were accepted and different rights we were denied, because the of the colonist we are a free country. If the colonist had not embraced th enlightenment ideas we would have a different country

14: World War I World War I began in 1914 and ended in 1919. It was a war that started between Austria-Hungary and Siberia, but grew into a war between countries as far as the United States and Japan. The battle that seemed like it would be small, soon escalated, or grew into a point where almost all countries chose a side. The war ended with the signing of treaties, and almost all of the blame for the war was pushed off onto the Germans. World War I lead almost straight too the causes of World War II, another fight that spread all across the world. The war ended with several million deaths, some due to fighting and some due to the spread of influenza, or the flu.

15: If Austrain heir to the throne hadn't been assassinated then we wouldn't have had World War 1, but we still would have had a war. Just because Austrian wouldn't have had been assassinated doesn't been another popular and strong leader couldn't have been assassinated. with allies and enemies formed their would have had been at least one other assassination and that would have started a big war. this war would have happened later then World War 1 but it still would have happened. | "What If"

16: World War II World War II basically happened all because of World War I. It was going on from 1939-1945. To this day, it's still the most widespread war, or the war that has spread across the most countries, that the world has ever seen. The bad guys were called the Axis Powers. The Axis Powers were the countries of Germany, Japan and Italy. The good guys were called The Allies, which was pretty much made up of all of the rest of the big countries in the world. In World War II there was a lot of prejudices and other reasons for fighting, but in the end treaties were signed and The Allis won.

17: If the U.S. had not dropped the atomic bomb on Japan then World War 2 would probably have gone on for a little longer, and our world would be like a warfare. If the U.S. hadn't stopped Japan with the atomic bomb. then Japan probably would have had some type of damaging bomb, and then they would have dropped it on the U.S. So no matter who would have dropped the bomb to end the war, a bomb would have been dropped. eEven if was at a later date. | "What If"

18: The Cold War Rivalry, or fighting, between the Soviet Union and the United States began over different ideas and governments went from 1945-1963. Both the US and the Soviet Union did their best to keep the war from escalating, or growing into nuclear war, or huge conflict. This was because both knew how devastating, or bad, that a war like this could be. The United States ended the Cold War which lead too the fall of the Soviet Union.

19: "What If" | If the Soviet Union had landed on the moon first, then the U.S. would have probably given up on our goal to explore space. this would be because the soviet union was first in sending a something into space, so if they landed on the moon first we would lose our confidence in exploring our solar system. We would have figured out somehow to get into space, but we would be behind in what we know now.